Arizona Observatory Had Part In Discovery Of Earth-Like Planet

By Sara Hammond
Published: Thursday, July 23, 2015 - 8:50pm
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(Photo by NASA - JPL-Caltech - T. Pyle)
This artist's concept depicts one possible appearance of the planet Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth-size world to be found in the habitable zone of star that is similar to our sun.

Scientists have identified a potential Earth-like planet 1,400 light years away and a Southern Arizona observatory had a role in the discovery.

A team at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics does its work at the Whipple Observatory, about 35 miles south of Tucson in the Santa Ritas.

Astronomer David Latham said the planet, called Kepler 452b, that may be similar to Earth is orbiting a star — and he was studying that star.

"So basically we characterized the host star, that was one of our main contributions," said Latham.

The star data captured by the Whipple helped the scientists determine the planet’s size, Latham said. But because that star is so faint, it will be hard for scientists to do further observations and measurements of its planet.

"We’d really like to find systems like 452b around nearby stars," Latham said.

NASA revealed its latest findings Thursday after analyzing solar system observations made by the Kepler space telescope between 2009 and 2013.

Science